Can Heart Deaths Continue to Drop?

June 6, 2007 -- The 20-year drop in U.S. heart deaths is half due to new
treatments, half due to better lifestyle -- but swelling obesity threatens
these gains.

The finding comes from a CDC effort to explain why, for the last two
decades, fewer and fewer Americans die of heart disease.

In a tour de force of statistical analysis, CDC researchers Earl S. Ford,
MD, MPH, Janet B. Croft, PhD, and colleagues came up with an answer.

"We were glad to find that 44% of this decrease was due to fewer risk
factors, and 47% was due to treatments," Croft tells WebMD. "Both the
patient and medical communities should be excited by these results."